(5) One of the biggest causes of runaway inequality is that the big banks are manipulating every market, and committingmassive crimes. These actions artificially redistribute wealth from honest, hard-working people to a handful of crooks. Conservatives hate redistribution … as well as crooks. In addition, religious leaders have slammed the criminality of the heads of the big banks; and the Bible teaches - and top economists agree – that their crimes must be punished, or else things will get worse. On the other hand, if the crimes of the bankers are punished, inequality will start to decline, because a more lawful, orderly and even playing field will be reestablished.

This is an area of agreement between people of good faith on the left and on the right. As Robert Shiller said in 2009:

And it’s not like we want to level income. I’m not saying spread the wealth around, which got Obama in trouble. But I think, I would hope that this would be a time for a national consideration about policies that would focus on restraining any possible further increases in inequality.

Moreover, both conservatives and liberals agree that we need to prosecute financial fraud. As I’ve previously noted, fraud disproportionally benefits the big players, makes boom-bust cycles more severe, and otherwise harms the economy – all of which increase inequality and warp the market.

Please use the comments to demonstrate your own ignorance, unfamiliarity with empirical data and lack of respect for scientific knowledge. Be sure to create straw men and argue against things I have neither said nor implied. If you could repeat previously discredited memes or steer the conversation into irrelevant, off topic discussions, it would be appreciated. Lastly, kindly forgo all civility in your discourse . . . you are, after all, anonymous.

6 Responses to “54% of Republicans Say We’ve Got Too Much Inequality”

“If we stop bailing out the fraudsters and financial gamblers, the big banks would focus more on traditional lending and less on speculative plays which only make the rich richer and the poor poorer, and which guarantee future economic crises (which hurt the poor more than the rich).”

I agree, combating corporate socialism and cronyism should be an area where the left, centre, and right can come together and support. What I, as a self-considered centrist, do not understand is how many on the right feel the key to lessening social inequality is to do away with environmental and labour protections (e.g. minimum wage) and scale back and/or eliminate social programs (e.g. privatize social security, no universal health care, no food stamps, etc.).

I would argue one of the great moral crimes of our day is how certain media/political interests spend huge resources on misinforming the public for their own personal gain at society’s expense.

The only way to deal with inequality is to get things more equal. You can look at it from either side, but the wealthy must be made poorer relative to the less wealthy. That’s not something the Republicans, as that party is presently constituted, will be willing to do.

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About Barry Ritholtz

Ritholtz has been observing capital markets with a critical eye for 20 years. With a background in math & sciences and a law school degree, he is not your typical Wall St. persona. He left Law for Finance, working as a trader, researcher and strategist before graduating to asset managementRead More...

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